


stagnation

by glownary



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Character Study, Gen, Killing Game Was A Virtual Reality Simulation (Dangan Ronpa), Not A Fix-It, POV Saihara Shuichi, Post-Canon, Post-New Dangan Ronpa V3, References to Depression, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, Virtual Reality, character stagnation, friendship breakup, friendship deterioration, implied suicidal ideation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-28
Updated: 2020-03-28
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:34:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 487
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23355505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glownary/pseuds/glownary
Summary: Maybe things were right in the game. Maybe waking up is worse than dying.
Relationships: Harukawa Maki & Saihara Shuichi, past Akamatsu Kaede & Saihara Shuichi, past Momota Kaito & Saihara Shuichi
Comments: 4
Kudos: 55





	stagnation

Nothing's right when he wakes up.

He had been so excited, so relieved, when he learned that the others were still alive. His friends are alive! His heart pounds in his chest. For the first time he can remember, he wants to live.

They don't look at him the same anymore.

"We don't really know each other," Kaede tells him. "We were scared out of our minds, it's no wonder we latched onto each other. But we only spent a few days together. You understand, right?" She smiles at him with pain in her eyes, and he realizes too late that she isn't trying to cut him off completely; that they could have become close if he hadn't reacted so poorly.

But he responds too quickly, as he recoils harshly and then begs her to stay with him—begs her to love him—begs her to be who she was in the game. She gives a frustrated sigh and walks away.

"I can't be who you want me to be," Kaito says to him. "I can't be your hero. Things are never going to be the way they were in the game again. I killed someone, you know that, right?" Kaito looks at him with a kind of desperation for reassurance. He only says what he feels, and expects it to make Kaito feel better.

He tells Kaito he's still a hero. That the deaths weren't real anyways, and besides, the person he killed was Kokichi. The one who lied to them and danced circles around them all game; who sacrificed two of their friends for his plans. If anyone deserved their fate, it was him.

Kaito only looks at him with disgust from then on.

"You miss the game, don't you?" Kokichi asks it, but it isn't really a question. "The game made sense to you. You had friends in the game; you were useful there. It makes sense that you would miss it, in a terrible way." Kokichi tells the truth, just like he usually does. And just like usual, he doesn't want to hear it.

"Don't talk to me like you understand me," he bites back. 

Kokichi's smile drops to a harsh line. "Everyone understands you now. That's why they're leaving you." He, too, leaves; but unlike the others, he's glad for it.

The only person who makes sense anymore is Maki.

"Kaito won't talk to me. He spends all his time with Ouma," Maki tells him. She only ever says Kokichi's name as if it's poisoning her tongue. "Something's wrong with all of them, the way they're talking to him like that. Like he's their friend."

Finally, Shuuichi thinks; finally something makes sense. "I don't understand why they're acting like this," he tells her. They reassure each other that the world is wrong. They reassure each other that they are all that makes sense anymore.

They're alone, they find. But they're alone together.


End file.
